![]() A few years later, during the Winter War against Finland, the Soviet Union used the puppet government of pro-Moscow Finnish politician, Otto Wille Kuusinen, as a cover for its attack on Finland. Nominally, all the pilots and technicians were volunteers, and Moscow officially denied any connection to them in fact, they belonged to the Soviet Air Force. For example, the so-called Soviet Volunteer Group was an air force detachment deployed to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Russia builds on the Soviet Union’s long history of operating proxy forces abroad. Although certain legal loopholes, to be explained later, made it possible for a few companies resembling Western PMCs to operate in the 1990s, Russian private military companies gained worldwide attention only in the 2010s, as a result of their participation in the wars in Syria and Ukraine. While there are thousands of private security companies operating in the country, guarding infrastructure and providing VIP-protection services, private military companies still can not be established legally on the territory of the Russian Federation. Post-Soviet Russia followed the trend of privatization of state violence relatively late, mostly due to the internal resistance of the armed forces, as well as to economic hardships. Conflicts of the 21 st century, particularly the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saw PMCs getting involved on all levels, from providing logistical support to high-intensity operations. Both state and non-state actors have frequently relied on their services, as these companies are more flexible, cheaper, less accountable, and often a lot more capable than regular militaries. The post-Cold War era brought a renaissance of private security companies (PSCs) and private military companies (PMCs). 1 Historical and legal background of private military companies in Russia As a result, Wagner should be considered a proxy organization of the Russian state rather than a private company selling services on the open market. The Russian government has found Wagner and other private military companies to be useful as a way to extend its influence overseas without the visibility and intrusiveness of state military forces. ![]() However, its management and operations are deeply intertwined with the Russian military and intelligence community. ![]() The Russian private military company Wagner Group may appear to be a conventional business company. This article is part of the CSIS executive education program Understanding the Russian Military Today.
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